Pacific Cup 2002: The Second Annual… well, sort of.

As we explored yesterday, the ECCW Pacific Cup Tournament started in November of the year 2000. The idea being that it would be an annual affair. However, it seems that the 2001 calendar year slipped right by. Picking back up where they left off, 2002 ushered in the Second “Annual” Pacific Cup. To be fair, the event took place on January 25th so there was only 14 months between the two.

The fans in Surrey, British Columbia were treated to 12 matches that night. 8 tournament matches, 2 title matches, a women’s match and something I would most assuredly dub a Special Attraction match.

The men entered into the Pacific Cup tournament itself read like a who’s who of the west coast independent wrestling scene at the time. Those representing ECCW that year were Havoc, Abbadon, Todd Kelly, Rockford, Black Dragon, Adam Firestorm and making his Pacific Cup debut, Scotty Mac. Rounding out the brackets of the tournament were some well known names to fans of indie wrestling. These men made the trek up to Surrey for the chance to make history and become the second gladiator to hoist the trophy at the end of the night: The Ballard Brothers (Shane and Shannon) and the preeminent expert of the mat game at that time, “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels.

With only 10 men in the tournament that year, someone was most assuredly fighting to get a bye into the finals and to increase their chances of winning the whole shebang. However, with an opening round time limit of 10 minutes there would be no time to waste. The pairing of Rockford and Abbadon went at it like warriors on the battle field. However, neither of them was able to secure a decision within the limit and were thusly ousted from from the tournament. This meant that, unlike the previous Pac Cup, the finals were going to be a one-on-one collision. Of all the opening round matches, Havoc besting Shane Ballard was the most highly touted by the fans.

Moondog Manson was in the building that night to successfully defend his hardcore title against Wrathchild in what was a meeting of two wild bulls. Wild bulls with steel chairs and barbed wire baseball bats. ECCW’s own Buffy also defeated an up-and-coming star in Cheerleader Melissa (best known now as a former Shimmer Women Athletes Champion and as Alissa Flash on TNA television).

The finals of the tournament came down to Black Dragon vs “The Fallen Angel”. These were two men at the top of their game and the game was violent human chess. Thinking that Christopher Daniels was a lock as the winner of this competition, I was pleasantly surprised when it was Black Dragon’s hand that was raised at the end of the night. Yes, your 2002 Pacific Cup Champion: Black Dragon.

Our next stop will be one of my favourite Pacific Cup tournaments of all time: Pacific Cup 2003. It was a raucous, good time. But, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for that one.

Pacific Cup 2013 comes at you live from the Russian Community Centre in Vancouver on March the 9th. Pre-order you tickets here at www.ECCW.com in the “Shop” section. Pac Cup is my favourite event of the year. Come out and see why!